There are many fields, such as entertainment, academics, business, health care, etc., that utilize media having time based streams of information. These time-based streams of information may be in the form of full motion images, e.g. video and movies; audio, e.g. music, sound effects, and voice/narration; motion graphics, e.g. animation; still images, e.g. text, pictures; and combinations thereof. The information is usually comprised of a stream of individual units, e.g. frames or blocks. Frequently, this information is in a digital format and resides on any of a number of conventional electronic mediums.
Oftentimes, the time-based information is assembled into a presentation through the use of a processing system to edit the information. For example, a video may be edited and combined with audio, text, effects and/or graphics to create a presentation. A “presentation” is any changed version of an original time-based stream of information or a modified copy of the original information. In addition, a “presentation” also may further be defined by at least one instruction for representing the original information in a changed form. In such an instruction-based presentation, the information is communicated in the manner according to the instruction. For instance, a software program may include directions on how a digital video should be played, where only certain frames of a video are chosen for display.
Digital editing typically is performed in a processing system and involves random retrieval of information from storage, communication of the information, e.g. display on a monitor, and manipulation of the information to produce the desired presentation. A portion or portions of sequential information, also referred to as a “clip,” such as a continuum of segments, frame, block or footage, may be rearranged into a desired order. Typically, the presentation appears as a seamless flow of the edited information. Editing may further entail removing portions of clips. During editing, particular “edit features” may be added to the presentation, such as transitions between clips, special effects (e.g., black and white, brightness, contrast, texture, echoes, compositing, blurring, etc.), text, graphics, black background, silent audio segments, combinations of different types of time-based streams of information, such as audio and still images, and the like. Various types of editing may be performed as new techniques for altering raw information are created.
Traditionally, editing of multimedia to produce presentations involved complex techniques performed by trained professionals. However, recently novice users have become interested in making presentations, as well. The processing of multimedia to produce sophisticated home movies, web sites, business presentations, amateur movies, etc., has been gaining in popularity.
Given the currently diverse level of skills among authors of presentations, it is desirable to provide processing a system that is easy and convenient to operate. Such system should have sophisticated tools to simplify the editing process for the user.
Although previous authoring systems provide for varying levels of ease for the novice user, there are still several drawbacks to these systems. Some prior systems include Studio DV from Pinnacle Systems Inc. of Santa Clara, Calif.; Avid Cinema® from Avid Technology, Inc. of Tewksbury, Mass.; Adobe Premier® from Adobe of San Jose, Calif.; Dazzle* Digital Video Creator™ from Dazzle Multimedia of Fremont, Calif.; and DVgate™ from Sony Corporation of Tokyo, Japan.
In general, processing systems require that the time based stream of information be captured from a media source and entered into the system. The information and the newly created presentation are stored within memory of the system. Typically, the presentation is in the form of references that correspond to the stored information. The references have instructions on handling the information for the presentation. These processing systems permit the user to control what is included in the presentation by moving in and out points in a reference to indicate the segment or segments of information to be accessed. Thus, a presentation may include instructions regarding the portion of information in which output is to begin and the portion of information where the output is to cease.
In these instruction-based processing systems a user's edit choices are embodied by the reference(s). One modification to a reference is in the form of an edit feature that is added to the reference by a user. A reference with an edit feature represents a change of any unit(s) of the original information that entered the processing system. The user may make desired changes, e.g. adding of an edit feature, to a reference through a user interface shown on a display component of the processing system.
The edit features are incorporated into the presentation through a rendering process performed by the processing system, where references or portions thereof are modified and written into storage. The rendering of references often consumes much time and resources of the system. The rendering process takes longer as more information in the stream incorporates the edit feature.
One problem with some prior systems is that they are unable to display a view of the edited time based stream of information during the rendering process. Thus, the user must wait until rendering is complete to see what the edits will look like. The lack of immediate feedback is inconvenient and wastes time. Oftentimes, and especially with novice users, it takes multiple attempts at editing a segment of information before the desired modifications are achieved. However, with these previous processing systems, the user may not inspect the changes to determine if the edits are acceptable until after the rendering is complete.
Systems that attempt to show the rendered information may feed the information to the screen for display after it has been rendered, i.e. modified and written into storage. These systems are limited by the slow rate in which the information is rendered by the system. Thus, the depiction of the stream of edited information runs very slowly and poorly represents the modified information. Some prior systems attempt to speed up the rendering process by creating shortcuts, such as rendering only a small region of a unit of the information. However, such shortcuts have limited use and the showing of edits is still constrained by lengthy rendering processes.
In light of the shortcomings of the various currently available systems, there is a need for a method of creating a presentation of a time based stream of information that is quick and simple to perform. In particular, there is an interest for a processing system that outputs a view of the results of modifications during the rendering of such edits. Such a system would be continuously active as edits are made and yet would not hinder the rendering process.